If you would prefer not to read the recap and just get the winners click here, and for a look at our 2005 Oscar Gallery click here as the gallery will be continually updated over the next couple of days.
So Leo DiCaprio arrives with Gisele just to spite us all and Star Jones embarrasses herself on E! by asking Catalina Sandino Moreno about animals and advising Laura Linney on how to heat up a Dunkin’ Donut, but as the festivities on the red carpet wound down the show inside started with a bang as Chris Rock brought the house down with a fantastic opening monologue.
The night of awards started off with Art Direction as Halle Berry introduced the contenders as they were all brought on stage, part of the Oscar telecast reinvention. This was the start of it all as The Aviator pulled down its first Oscar of the night as Dante Ferretti and Francesca LoSchiavo accepted the award.
Next a highly anticipated award was handed out as it wasn’t quite certain who would win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and the question was quickly answered as Morgan Freeman was honored with the award he so very much deserved despite the fact that the four other nominees were absolutely amazing, and it was a shame that Jamie Foxx wasn’t going to be bringing home two acting Oscars tonight.
You would never believe what happened next as Robin Williams stepped on stage and blabbed on and on before he actually awarded The Incredibles with the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
The second look at the revamped Oscars came as Cate Blanchett awarded Valli O’Reilly and Bill Corso with the Oscar for Best Makeup for the work they did on Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, which was quickly followed up by Beyoncé‘s French performance of the Oscar-nominated song “Look To Your Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin)” from The Chorus.
Scarlett Johansson appeared in the balcony and let us all in on the Scientific Oscars that she had handed out on February 12 at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel.
Then with an introduction fit for a Bond Pierce Brosnan, sans voice, along with Edna Mode from The Incredibles handed out the Oscar for Best Costume Design, and the second Oscar for The Aviator was awarded to Sandy Powell for her work on the film.
Tim Robbins followed that up by awarding Cate Blanchett her much deserved and long overdue first Oscar for her role as Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator, raising the film’s tally to 3-for-3 and the sweep is still intact. Blanchett’s win may wipe clean the sour taste left in several Oscar fans when she missed out on an Oscar for her role in Elizabeth back in 1998, when she gave way to Gwyneth Paltrow as she won the Oscar for her part in Shakespeare in Love.
A tribute to Johnny Carson followed the commercial break before Leonardo DiCaprio came out and presented the Oscar for Best Documentary, in which Born into Brothels brought home the award. For those of you unfamiliar with the film it takes a look at a group of extraordinary children in Calcutta’s red light district and if you would like more click here as we also have trailers and stills from the film.
Then beauty took the stage as Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst handed out the award for Film Editing as The Aviator continued its winning ways as Thelma Schoonmaker accepted the Oscar.
Thanks to an “absent” Catherine Zeta-Jones, Adam Sandler and Chris Rock reunited for a little bit of shtick before Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne were awarded the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Sideways.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Ziyi Zhang followed up that bit by awarding the Visual Effects Oscar to Spider-Man 2 just before Gil Cates made his speech dedicating the ceremonies to the United States troops serving the country.
Al Pacino graced the stage following the dedication, handing out an honorary Oscar to Sidney Lumet, Pacino’s director on Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon. Lumet never won an Oscar for any of his films despite the fact that many of them won Oscars themselves including Murder on the Orient Express (1), Dog Day Afternoon (1) and Network (4). But Lumet isn’t done yet as he is currently directing Vin Diesel and Peter Dinklage in Find Me Guilty.
Next, Emmy Rossum came out to present Beyoncé once again performing “Learn to be Lonely” from The Phantom of the Opera with Andrew Lloyd Weber on piano.
The great Jeremy Irons came out to present the winner for Best Live Action Short, one of the few awards we don’t catalog, and the winner was Andrea Arnold for Wasp, and quickly following that Laura Linney handed out the Oscar for Best Short Animated Film to Chris Landreth for Ryan.
Then beauty hit the stage in the form of Kate Winslet who seems to look better and better every time I see her as she handed out the award for Best Cinematography, and guess what Robert Richardson won for The Aviator. Hmmmmm… Could there be another 11-for-11 repeat? Is Jamie Foxx doubting his assumed lock for the Best Actor Oscar? Probably not, but you never know.
The show goes on as Chris Rock introduces Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek as they presented the award for Best Sound Mixing saying, “You won’t be able to take your eyes off these next two presenters.” Right you are Chris, and guess who won… Nope, not The Aviator, the boys behind Ray took it home and the streak dies. But the beauties weren’t done handling Sound awards as the Award for Best Sound Editing went to The Incredibles, with its second win for the night thus far.
And Salma still wasn’t done as she introduced Antonio Banderas and Carlos Santana performing the Oscar-nominated song “Al Otro Lado Del RÃÂo” from The Motorcycle Diaries, the very first Spanish song to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Things continued to get better as I was able to take a look at Natalie Portman as she presented the winner for Best Documentary Short Subject to Mighty Times: The Children’s March.
Then John Travolta came out to present the award for Best Original Score, which went to Jan A.P. Kaczmarek for Finding Neverland.
Following that, the man that had better be winning Best Director, Martin Scorsese, presented Roger Mayer with the Hersholt Humanitarian Award an award given to an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.
Next Annette Bening, looking stunning for 46 by the way, introduced Yo-Yo Ma as he provided some amazing music while the memoriam of those lost in the past year were displayed.
So once the grieving period was over Chris Rock introduced Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs, yeah he should be at the Oscars, but I guess since he was introducing a musical nominee in “Believe” from The Polar Express it did fit the occasion. “Believe” was the final nomination for the Best Original Song category and it was performed at the awards by Beyoncé and Josh Groban, but the original is credited to Groban alone.
Then it happened, the greatest artist of all-time, Prince, came out to announce the winner for Best Original Song, a one-time winner himself who could ever debate his involvement? The winner for the category turned out being “Al Otro Lado Del RÃÂo” from The Motorcycle Diaries.
Next Sean Penn had to show up Chris Rock by reminding him of who Jude Law after Rock’s early comments saying there were only really five was before announcing the award winner for Best Actress as Hilary Swank for her part in Million Dollar Baby. Not only did she win her second Oscar she also gave the longest speech of the night as she refused to quit even as the music drove on.
Before things went on Rock was sure to take note of Penn’s earlier comment as he referenced an earlier joke saying, “To Sean Penn, my accountants would like a word with you.” The accountants he was referring to were two GIANT guys who represented the figures of two Price Waterhouse Coopers accountants responsible for tallying the Oscar votes.
But the show must go on as Gwyneth Paltrow now graced the stage to award The Sea Inside from Spain, which was followed by Samuel L. Jackson, out to present Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth with the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the wild drama Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which turns out to be the first time Kaufman has won an Oscar despite writing such amazing screenplays as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Adaptation and Being John Malkovich, but then again good things come to those who wait.
Now we are left with three major awards left and who better to announce the winner for Best Actor than, the now dark haired, Charlize Theron? The winning actor turned out to be the obvious as Jamie Foxx has now swept the circuit bringing home the Oscar for his amazing portrayal of the late Ray Charles in Ray.
You knew it was going to happen, I knew it was going to happen and Jamie Foxx had to have a pretty good idea it was going to happen but that didn’t stop his grin from going ear to ear and giving a tear inspired speech that rivaled the length of Swank’s and the emotion of Halle Berry’s three years ago as he remembered his grandmother and represented himself with the utmost of class. You deserved it Jamie we are proud of you!
That leaves Best Picture and Best Director and we know Best Picture is saved for last so out came Julia Roberts to present the Oscar for Best Director and while each film nominated was amazing and they all deserved the award I had my favorite to win and while Scorsese missed out on an Oscar yet again Clint Eastwood was just as deserved of the award for the amazing Million Dollar Baby, which put a ton of speculation on Best Picture, which was only moments away.
So with Eastwood’s speech in the bag it is on for the big one as Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand came out to announce the winner of the Best Picture Oscar. Who will it be, The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby, Ray, Sideways or Finding Neverland?
The wait is over and as the streak ended long ago The Aviator couldn’t come back for the big one as Million Dollar Baby took home the big one for its fourth Oscar of the night, but still placed it just behind The Aviator which took home five.
So that is the wrap, but you can get a look at the winners here or even browse our 2005 Oscar Gallery here to get red carpet pics and presentation pics as it is updated over the next couple of days.
Good night.
